Don’t I Know You?

I was at Meijer Thrifty Acres (does anybody call it that anymore?) earlier this week and I had three things on my list.

1. Pick up your Rx
2. Votive candle refills
3. Hardback notebook for work

I wanted to pick up a nicely bound notebook to take notes during a meeting with a prospective client. You know, something that looked a little more professional than a legal pad or a spiral bound notebook that said, “MEAD” on the cover.

I really DO try to stick to the items on my shopping list.  Okay, well I kind of try to stick to the items on my shopping list, but if I see something that I need and put it in the cart as I pass it, I’m really just saving myself a trip, right?  So, I ended up grabbing Christmas cards, a small stocking stuffer that I knew the recipient just wouldn’t be able to live without, and a journal(s) for myself.

I spent a ridiculous amount of time looking at the small selection of day planners, notebooks, and journals when all I needed to do was grab a journal with a plain cover. I just needed to pick it up and put it in my cart. I do not need another diary or idea book. These days I put a very small amount of my writing in notebooks or journals – but they are my kryptonite. I cannot pass them up. I really should have brought a support group friend with me, but I was alone. I consider myself lucky that I walked away with a total of only three; the one for work that was the purpose of my trip and then two others.

I’m not sure what I’m going to do with this one.  I reflected on why I felt I needed it.  I’m not a big fan of pink, but I think I was attracted to it because it reminded me of my sister’s copy of The Pink Motel.  I’m a compulsive nostalgia buyer.  If I see something that reminds me of a wonderful childhood memory, my credit card starts vibrating with a need to be swiped.  I think I was also attracted to the pink journal because I have a lot of Novel Ideas.  I liked that it has a place on each page for the date of my stellar ideas, unlike a diary or planner which has sequential days already printed so I end up skipping large groups of pages at a time.  Undated pages allow you to move at your own pace.

Since I have lots of documents, lists, and folders of Novel Ideas on my computer I’m not sure what exactly I’ll be writing in here, but I ‘needed’ it.

This was my big score for the day.  I like the rainbow of colors on the cover, and I found the questions intriguing.  I imagined myself answering a few of the questions each day over the course of the next year.  Some are super easy, and the answers come to me immediately.  Some require a certain amount of self-reflection and would also be interesting future blog topics.

• If I ever invent something it will be
• The biggest problem in the world today is
• The most exotic thing I’ve ever eaten was
• The most encouraging thing I’ve ever been told was
• One thing I think is real, but most people consider fake
• The worst thing I ever lost was

Fun!  Right?

I’m looking forward to it, but I have a few things to figure out first.  Who is my audience?  Am I answering the questions as a means of reflection and growth?  Can I be totally open and honest if I think someone else, like my son, will read it?  (He’s already prepared to read it and let me know how many of them he already knew about me.)  I’m sure MOH will be glad to weigh in on which ones I answered ‘correctly.’  I say that tongue in cheek, but it is true that sometimes people know parts of you better than you do yourself!  Which is a little creepy, but inevitably true.

I also sort of don’t want to write in the book.  I don’t have neat handwriting and when I write I’m prone to cross-outs and erasures.  What happens when I can’t fit my answer in the space?  Excellent points about why I love my computer.

I intend to start tomorrow and answer every question by the end of 2022.  One thousand questions are a lot of questions!  But the first question should be, will I stick to it and really answer all of them? Considering the pile of journals, diaries, writing prompt books, notebooks, etc. I’ve accumulated over the years, and have promised to fill but haven’t, it seems doubtful. 

But one of my favorite sayings is Hope Springs Eternal and I’ve surprised myself before.  Maybe I’ll have to ask MOH.  Sometimes, he knows me better than I do.  Other times not so much. Maybe he’ll have to read the book.